[Wynton]

Stellar,

First, I believe we agree that lead betting the flop is good. The interesting question is whether to 3-bet and/or lead the turn.

Now, a tight player has capped pf and then raised our flop bet. This is consistent with him having a top hand (AA-QQ) as well as AK. It is also possible he has 99. Even though he's tight, we know that tight players can show aggression with these types of hands. And the truth is, on this flop, it would make sense for him to raise the flop. MP player is a problem because he's loose and could have anything, including 2 overcards.

I agree that our equity doesn't look great after the utg player raises the flop. But since the pot is big and he would still raise the flop with a few hands that we beat, the main issue to me at this stage is how to get the best information, hopefully at the least cost.

If we just call the flop raise, we might be able to fold if it comes back to us for 2 bets. But here, MP is LP, and likely won't be doing any raising. And UTG is very likely to bet, even with just AK. So I don't feel our info is that good now.

If we 3-bet the flop and it gets capped, we probably need to see the turn, but I'll feel very comfortable knowing I'm behind then, as I doubt UTG will cap without being ahead. Or, if he just calls the 3-bet and then raises our turn, I'll also feel that I have reliable info.

I disagree that there is any worry here that bet/fold will leave us in the dangerous situation of folding the best hand, given the above.

One other possible benefit of 3-betting the flop is that we might convince the MP player to fold.